Spanish Prime Minister meets with China’s auto industry group and Xpeng Motors · TechNode

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez met with a top official from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), as well as representatives from electric vehicle maker Xpeng Motors and car manufacturer JAC Motors, during a four-day visit to China on Monday. Sanchez emphasized the advantages of Spain’s automotive industry and exchanged views with the Chinese attendees on cooperation between the two countries, according to a statement published by the government-backed CAAM on Tuesday, without further details. The news comes after Volkswagen-backed Xpeng recently said it has started looking for a site to make EVs locally and set up a data center in the European Union to avoid additional tariffs imposed by local authorities, Bloomberg reported on Aug. 27. The Spanish premier on Wednesday called on European Union members to rethink their plans to apply punitive tariffs to Chinese EV imports after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. [Bloomberg, CAAM statement, in Chinese]